Just purchased a 1967 Jaguar 340 only to discover the engine is stuck. The car had been in storage for a number of years. I'm not sure if the condition was caused by not being used or if some sort of mechanical failure is to blame. I've been soaking the cylinders for a couple of days and plan to attack the problem shortly. The car is a 4 speed which would make it a bit easier to work with. Question is what's the best course of action?
Thanks

 

Remove the fan / accessory belts as I have seen them rust to the pulleys and prevent the crank from turning. Not very likely but it does happen. Clutch could also be stuck, Need to remove all possibilities. Hope it helps.

JTS

 

To see of the clutch is stuck, jack up the rear wheels and see if the engine will turn.
It should be in neutral.

Liquid Wrench or even a mixture of acetone and ATF seems to work best as a penetrating oil.
WD-40 is pretty useless.

Be very careful, if it turns out to be the engine and the bottom end is frozen, then the bucket lifters and valves may also be stuck.
Remove the cam shaft covers when turning the engine by hand, watch carefully that the bucket lifters come back up after each lobe on the cam shaft has pushed them down.

 

Marvel Mystery Oil down all the bores LOL (any good engine oil) & let it sit if pistons are frozen as you are doing. Listen to Jeff's wise advice re stuck valves. The 340 has such a nice engine with the straight port head etc.

 

Thanks for the replies. To add to my problems the starter motor will not turn. I've tried running a wire from the battery directly to the starter and nothing. No click or sparking. How can I try and turn engine by hand? It doesn't look like one can get a socket on the crank bolt.

 

I assume the spark plugs are out and you have some kind of penetrating oil in the cylinders. With the car on the ground, put in a high gear and rock the car back and forth. Keep trying as you only need a slight movement to start freeing up what is stuck.

 

On my car there is a cage on the big crank bolt, the cage has to be removed to get a socket on there. (posting this from memory)
I haven't turned my engine over by hand in a while, but it is possible to get a socket on there.
I think I used just an ordinary socket and a torque bar, a regular ratchet with a socket won't fit.
I may even have taken the socket to a machine shop and have it made shallow, I will have a look today and see what I did.
It's 6:00 A.M. here now so I think I will go back to bed for a little while.

 

Another possibility is to put the car in top gear, chock the front wheels, lift the rear wheels (or all four) off the ground, support the car safely on axle stands and lever the output shaft from the gear box. This way you can apply a good torque on the engine. Don't rotate the crank more than a few degrees without checking the valves for sticking. And don't do anything until the oil you poured down the bores has had a few days (or weeks?) to work.

 

Its basically all been said above. Remove the plugs and soak the bores with oil. Don't try and turn the engine over with the starter but as you have a manual put it in first gear or reverse and rock the car back and forth moving the engine a little at a time. This might also free the stuck clutch if you do this with the car out of gear. It might be that it is the bottom end that is frozen not the pistons so trying to turn the engine over with a socket on the front pulley is a good idea but getting to it is difficult. If the car has been sat a long time you are going to want to pull the radiator to clean it and the engine block water ways out and if you do this will give you a lot more room to get at the front pulley. If the engine does not turn by hand on the sock put a breaker bar on the socket and then sit a bottle jack under the arm of the breaker bar. Apply a little pressure by jacking up the bottle jack and then leave it under tension over night. Slow pressure is always better than trying to force it.
If you have tried the starter and as you said not clicks or jumps then remove it and have it rebuilt. Could be the brushes like the engine have frozen/corroded on to the spindle and will need replacing or at the very least cleaning.

 

The crank shaft bolt on mine measures up at 1-5/16, I must have removed the fan and shroud, or used a box end wrench, but I have no wrench that size.
But I think that would work once the locking wring was removed.
The car would have to be jacked up so one can get some leverage on the wrench.

Like this, the end would enable a big pipe on the end.

PROTO® 2621SW - Heavy-Duty™ 1-5/16" 12-Point Black Oxide Offset Box End Striking Wrench - TOOLSiD.com

 

OXENDINE
About 30 years ago I bought a MK2 3.8 Auto which had a seized engine and and a scorched engine bonnet from a typical carbie fire. (I paid A$2000).
The owner had bought it in that condition and was "gunna" do it up but had to give up due to illness.
I removed the carbies to rebuild them and poured heaps of penetrating oil down the plug holes and let it soak for a week.
There was still no movement at the crankshaft using typical tools as described by previous enthusiasts in this post.
I then removed the head and did not see anything in the piston/bore area which would account for the seizing.
The cylinder head was in pristine condition with no carbon on it or on the tops of the pistons which made me suspicious.
I did note that the upper camshaft drive chain was "loose" ( flexible) on one side (inlet) but was locked solid on the other (exhaust) side.
Throwing caution to the wind I applied pressure to the pistons to drive the crankshaft backwards and lo and behold it turned!!
I then retrieved a 3/8 nut from between the upper camshaft chain and the idler sprocket.
That was one of the nuts used to hold the camshaft sprocket onto the carrier when the head is removed.
Whoever had had the engine apart had dropped the nut when reassembling the engine.
Once I reassembled everything properly with overhauled carbies, new plug leads and distributor cap it ran like a Jag is supposed to.
I repainted the bonnet and now had a very nice car.

Has somebody been into your engine?

 

Another suggestion for a lubricant is Kano Kroil. This stuff (called the oil that creeps) has the capability to get under rust and loosen the bond to the good metal below. Black powder shooters use Kroil to loosen lead fouling from the bores from their rifles and I can say from experience that it works as advertised...

 

I have not tried it, but I'd be tempted to put Evaporust down the bores. It's an iron chleating agent, so effectively dissolves the rust. I have used it for removing rust from other things and it''s amazing how well it works.

 

I might tell you if it has rusted rings to the bore that good old white Vinegar will free it after standing. Don't use Balsamic. Phosphoric acid is too strong.

 

I'd prefer to see rust conversion as a last resort. First, give a good penetrating oil a week or so to work. Kano Kroil, XPC, PlusGas are supposed to be good. Years ago, Shell sold a chain spray that worked well for me on rusted bolts. I'd even try some solvents that might dissolve any gum. For acids and rust converters, it may be better to wait until after the head is off and other possible causes (such as that mentioned by Bill) have been eliminated. The bores could still be in good condition.

 

It's the solvents in all the oily products that does the creeping/penetrating! The oil only helps once movement is achieved. We have investigated this in forensic conditions.

All these penetrating substances have solvents in them.

 

... which begs the question: assuming an engine is well worn, but not worn out, has been run on the poorest fuels and lubricants with minimal detergent packages, PO rarely changed the oil, and it's all stood still for years, what's the best solvent to pour down the bores?

 

If one does not want to use Phosphoric acid & want something readily available as Peter would refer to it as a rust converter like Vinegar I think he knows the answer to this already

1. Trichloroethylene (with due caution)
2. Perchloroethylene (with due caution) (Most drycleaners still use in the US)
3. Stoddard solvent like white spirits or mineral turpentine.
4. Old Power Kerosene was great & highly aromatic but is generally no longer made (When last did you see a Power Paraffin tractor? Only old units in a 3rd world country that are now being run on gasoline ~ not only started on gasoline & then switched to PK)

I could make a list of solvents a mile long but the first 2 are almost impossible to beat. Note only use in well ventilated area as both are carcinogenic. Pour into cylinders & reinsert plugs. Multiple top ups likely required. Both non flammable.

 

I think 1&2 is basically chlorinated brake cleaner, like this one:
CRC Brakleen Brake Parts Cleaner, 539 Grams - 75089

 

The volatility is too high. Heated Trichloroethylene baths do not have that rate of loss to evaporation. Heating Trichloroethylene speeds up it's operation. You van also vapour clean with Trike